Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Big plans for Fenwick
Posted by Tim Bousquet on Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 8:41 PM
The owners of Fenwick Tower, the tallest building in Halifax, want to put a 36-foot wide addition up the entire length of the 33-storey structure. Together with other renovations, the addition would increase the number of apartments in the building from 274 to 402, and would about double the commercial space in the tower.
Additionally, Templeton Properties also wants to build two new residential buildings on the property---a nine-storey structure with 90 residential units and 5,000 square feet of commercial, and an eight-storey structure with 38 residential units---as well as six townhouses, a four-storey parking garage and 55,200 square feet of new commercial space.
City staff supports the proposal, and city council Tuesday initiated the bureaucratic process needed for the development to come to fruition. See more information at thecoast.ca/bites.
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Comments (13)
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As for the affordable housing issue, while new units built explicity for affordable housing may not be built to the extent that many affordable housing proponents would like, won't more older units become relatively more affordable and available as new units are built and wealthier people move into them? Units in parts of Clayton Park, for example, used to be relatively more expensive when they were newly built in the 1960s and 1970s, but now many of those units house lower-income people and are still in good shape. My mother, for example, is a low-income earner and lived in one of these units in Clayton Park while receiving social assistance. You'd think that having my own mother as someone who earns a low-income and still receives social assistance would make me one of those "affordable housing proponents/HCAP activists," but whaddya know, I'm not!
Leave Fenwick the way it is! It's a great example of brutalist architecture and a unique symbol of Halifax. Fix it up, perhaps even alter it a bit (perhaps a similar treatment to what was done to Scotia Square or Ocean Towers), yes, but don't completely destroy it. Many may not consider it to be "pretty," but neither were a lot of the old Victorian homes that were destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s in the name of urban renewal. Look at them and peoples' perception of them now!
That, or modify it into a giant lighthouse. That'll attract all them tourists to Halifax I tell ya!
It's all in how you define "affordable." Isn't it the case that 100% of the housing at Fenwick-- 272 units-- is now "affordable," at least by some definitions? Under the proposal, just 10% of the units--53 units-- will be affordable. Also, the new units also appear to be smaller, housing fewer people per unit.
If Halifax had a replacement ordinance, the developer would have to re-create those 219 lost affordable units somewhere nearby.
This is an incredible idea. I currently live in the area and the zone surrounding the building at ground level is a wasteland filled with garbage and refuse. Anything would be an improvement, but this scheme really has great urban moves included in it.
If it works, the same could be applied to several other apartment buildings in the city that have no "street level" consideration.
I hope they go through with it. It's one of the biggest eyesores in the city, and I used to live there. I hope they do something to make the building more stable though. That thing was poorly constructed at best.
Wow, the sex I had in this building over the years always makes me smile :)
If I returned to live there hopefully the new neighbours would visit as often.
The only thing I wonder about is the people that live there now, I've got a friend who lives in that building and I wonder how much of a pain it's going to be to put up with construction for all that time.
Wow—That would be a HUGE improvement. The existing building is so ugly looking, and this plan looks like it would be a tremendous update to the exterior, as well as integrating some other buildings into the site.
LOVE IT!
I hope they get approval to get going on this.
Wow that sounds like a great development, especially with the addition of affordable housing. Let's hope this is a model for all future developments of this scale in out city.
The article fails to mention that the developers have set aside 10% of the units for affordable housing. I believe this is the first development in Halifax to move away from the segregated mono-cultures that make up most housing developments.
Here's a painted rendering of the renovation:
http://www.fenwicktower.ca/images/vision/p…
Looks great to me.
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